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Slow down and make Old School Pinto Beans from Decoloni: Cook This Book

Breast cancer scared Luz Calvo and Catriona Rueda Esquibel into a radical rethink of their diets. They embraced legumes, vegetables, seeds and other whole, organic ingredients from traditional Mexican-American cuisine.

Calvo’s now in remission, but the California duo actively promote the idea that Mexicans and Latinos/Latinas living in the United States and Canada should cut out preserved and packaged food and prepare meals with fresh, local ingredients that their abuelas (grandmothers) would recognize.

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THE BOOK:Decolonize Your Diet: Plant-Based Mexican-American Recipes for Health and Healing features more than 120 recipes. While “decolonize your diet” sounds radical, it’s really just another way of saying “think farm to table” when you cook.

This comforting pot of freshly cooked beans relies on the freshest dried beans you can find. “The simple act of cooking a pot of beans connects us to our ancestors, who for generations survived on a bean-rich diet,” the Decolonize Your Diet authors write. Serve these with corn tortillas, rice, quinoa or avocado slices.

Old School Pinto Beans are plainly delicious. Eat them with quinoa, rice or corn tortillas. (Melissa Renwick / Toronto Star)

To make Old School Pinto Beans, you only need dried beans, onion, garlic, dried oregano, salt, water and patience. (Melissa Renwick / Toronto Star)

Catriona Rueda Esquibel, left, and Luz Calvo, right, are academics, partners and co-authors of Decolonize Your Diet. You can find out more about their movement on Facebook. (MIKI VARGAS)

Transfer onion mixture to slow cooker. Add beans, water and oregano. Cover and cook until skins are soft, insides are creamy and a few are beginning to crack open, about 4 to 6 hours on high heat, or 6 to 9 hours on low heat. When beans are almost done, stir in salt and cook at least 20 minutes.

If making in a pot, place onion mixture, beans, water and oregano in large pot. Bring to boil over high heat. Reduce heat to medium-low and cook at slow simmer about 3 to 4 hours until softened as above, adding more water if needed. When beans are almost done, stir in salt and simmer at least 20 minutes.

Serve straight from the pot (de olla) as a main or side dish. Alternately, gently mash beans in slow cooker until creamy and still soupy.

Makes 6 cups (1.5L) for about 8 servings.

Wine pairing: CODORNÍU BRUT CLASICO CAVA (SPAIN)

#254912 $10.85/3-200ML BOTTLES

#215814 $13.95/750 ML

Sure, beer is the usual go-to bevvie with beans. But Cava is hands-down the vinous equivalent. In fact, Cava is Spanish for quaffable (or at least it should be). Its lively bubbles and crisp character quench and cool while the slightly earthy undertones and bone-dry appeal reflect the rustic and relaxed nature of any bean-based dish. For old-school pinto beans, I’d strongly suggest Brut Clasico by Codorniu. Not only is Codorniu the first producer of Cava, having bottled its first batch in 1872, the Brut Clasico is true to the original style of the first bottlings. This blend of three Spanish grape varieties — Macabeo, Parellada and Xarello — is a sheer wash of sea-salt and apple, nut and oven-fresh bread shot through with a high-toned note of lemon-lime sorbet. Basically, this restrained refresher is pretty perfect with traditional pinto beans. And if you decide to roll them into a burrito or tuck them into a taco with all sorts of toppings — including maybe hot sauce or salsa — the wine still works. I particularly like that it also comes in that 200-millilitre format, you know, for that late-night snack moment when you reach in the fridge for a cold one.

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